The 12-member supercommittee charged with finding at least $1.2 trillion in budget cuts next month met publicly for the first time in six weeks Wednesday — and agreed on little more than the fact that time is indeed growing short for them to approve a deal. Co-chairman Patty Murray, D-Wash., said a lot of hard…
Category: News & Opinion
Florida’s welfare drug testing halted by federal judge
Gov. Rick Scott, who signed the measure into law on May 31, touted it as a way to ensure taxpayer money isn’t “wasted” on those who use drugs. “Hopefully more people will focus on not using illegal drugs,” he said then. But, in her order, Scriven issued a scathing assessment of the state’s argument in…
Oakland Police Use Rubber Bullets, Flash Grenades, And Smoke Bombs To Evict Occupy Oakland
Late last night, Oakland police, under orders from the city, began surrounding the Occupy Oakland encampment in preparation to oust the protesters from Frank Ogawa Plaza.Approximately an hour ago, hundreds of Oakland police officers raided the camp. Dressed in riot gear, the police used rubber bullets, flash grenades, and gas canisters to forcibly evict and/or…
Vatican Calls For Economic Equality, Sweeping Reform Of Global Financial System
With protesters taking to the streets around the world to fight for better income equality and economic opportunities for the poor and middle classes, the Vatican called Monday for an overhaul of world’s financial systems and a return to a global economy based on ethical behavior and “achievement of a universal common good,”…
Power Shift Renews Energy Of Occupy Cleveland
With police arresting 11 Occupy Cleveland protesters Friday night in downtown Cleveland, 200 participants in the youth climate summit Midwest Power Shift marched to join the Occupy Cleveland group, renewing the energy of the 99 Percent Movement. via Power Shift Renews Energy Of Occupy Cleveland | ThinkProgress.
Americans who pay no income taxes, EITC edition
People are leeching off the tax system? But this turns out to be fairly misleading. A new study offers a more nuanced look at the role the Earned Income Tax Credit actually plays in the U.S. economy. The EITC, remember, is a refundable tax credit that helps supplement the income of poor employed workers with…
Goldman Sachs Withdraws From Credit Union Fundraiser After Learning Occupy Wall Street Was Being Honored Too
Earlier this month, the Lower East Side People’s Federal Credit Union in New York City held a fundraiser to celebrate its 25th anniversary. It just so happened that this the credit union many of the protesters at Occupy Wall Street OWS were using to store funds — and the protest group became an honoree at…
Police pepper spray Haka dancers at football game
Union High School and Football field. Looks like plenty of exits. The group in Roosevelt, a town of 8,000, had traveled about 125 miles east from the Salt Lake City area to watch a relative play his final game for Union, which lost to rival Uintah and finished the season without a victory. The group…
NYPD Inspector Anthony Bologna Violated Pepper Spray Guidelines, Review Finds « CBS New York
An internal NYPD review finds a deputy inspector violated department guidelines when he used pepper spray on Occupy Wall Street protesters last month. Officials say Anthony Bologna, who works in Manhattan North, will lose 10 vacation days for his actions on September 24. He used the spray on women who were penned-in by police. via…
US Pays 18 Percent of Israel’s Military Budget
Leave it to the Washington Post’s award-winning national security reporter, Walter Pincus, to put things in perspective. In a new column, Pincus points out a remarkable inequity: While the US faces a fiscal crisis and debates the need for defense cuts, it’s footing the bill for one-fifth of Israel’s military budget—even as that country…
South Carolina Voter ID Law: Yep, Pretty Discriminating
Under South Carolina’s new law, passed in August, prospective voters must present either a valid driver’s license or ID card, military ID, or passport. Absent of any of those, people may still cast absentee or provisional ballots. But, under the state’s new law, these ballot-casters must eventually produce a valid ID. And though…
Americans’ Student Loan Balance Now Exceeds $1 Trillion
USA Today parses through New York Federal Reserve’s latest report (pdf) on Household Debt and Credit and finds that for the first time, this year the amount of student loans will surpass the $100 billion mark and the outstanding balance will exceed $1 trillion. That means the amount of credit card debt and student debt…
ACLU Challenge To Small Piece Of Campaign Finance Law May Lead To A Slippery Slope
The ACLU case, brought on behalf of three individuals holding contracts with the government, targets a provision of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1972 (FECA) that banned individuals who have direct contracts with the federal government from contributing to candidates running for federal office. This ban excludes employees of corporations that hold contracts with…
Cenk Uygur: How To Regain Our Democracy
Now, you can never stop rich people from spending their own money on their political ideology. But that has happened throughout our history and we have survived that. What has changed in the last 30 years is the power of corporate money, which is nearly unlimited.Starting in 1978, the Supreme Court opened the spigot to…
Consumer Inflation Slows; Food, Energy Prices Up : NPR
Consumers paid more for food and gas last month, although inflation outside those volatile categories was tame. The Labor Department said Wednesday that the Consumer Price Index rose 0.3 percent in September, below a 0.4 percent rise in August. Excluding food and energy, so-called core prices increased 0.1 percent, the smallest rise since March. Inflation…
GOP Contenders Hold ‘Raucous’ Debate In Vegas
The reviews are in about last night’s CNN Republican presidential debate in Las Vegas and the consensus seems to be that it was a slugfest in Sin City: — “The near-weekly ritual of Republican presidential debates took a raucous turn Tuesday night as the unsettled field of candidates ganged up on one another…
Rediscovering Civil Disobedience
“There comes a time when silence becomes betrayal,” proclaimed Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as he took a risk and spoke out forcefully against the War in Vietnam. As more Americans debate whether to leave the sidelines and join the Occupy Wall Street movement, we should heed Dr. King’s words. Our individual silence is…
GOP Voters In Arizona Grade The Candidates’ Debate : NPR
Eight Republican voters — six of them undecided — gathered at NPR’s request to watch the televised GOP presidential debate Tuesday night. NPR’s Ted Robbins watched with them in Saddlebrooke, Ariz., a retirement community northwest of Tucson, and asked them to share their thoughts. I thought I might be imposing on Dick and Peg Alford…
Watch: Norquist says don’t raise taxes because Republicans spend too much
When asked why he wouldn’t accept ten dollars in cuts for every dollar in revenue, he points to Republicans who didn’t honor their agreements, spent too much, and raised taxes. He then goes on to talk about unicorns.
Cantor To Give Speech On Income Inequality And ‘How We Make Sure The People At The Top Stay There’
Cantor announced today that he will give an address on income disparity “and how Republicans believe the government could help fix it” on Friday. According to his aide, Cantor will specifically focus on how Washington can help “a single working mom…a small business owner..and how we make sure the people at the top stay there.”…